Anyone have any experiences of the above? My 5 yr old went to a nursery full time before school but the youngest (18mths) may soon be going to have to start full time care and I am wondering peoples recommendations..?

Cost also very much an issue as it’ll be down south where ft childcare costs a fortune.

Thanks in advance.

My nearly 1 year old has just started at nursery 1 day a week. I wasn’t sure what was best until I saw a nursery and decided he’ll get far more out of being with a variety of other kids in a learning environment that’ll start becoming a bit like school in time – with lots of equipment for playing and learning. Really can’t see how a child minder can compete with that.

Check out my thread from earlier this year …

NOTE: we’ve since found a fantastic childminder (albeit not cheap) and am really looking forward to seeing how the little monkey develops in her care as of this month.

Nice one Monkey! 😀

No probs mate.

Bit of a minefield down here – but I guess it depends what you’re looking for. One of our challenges was finding someone we’d trust, and for whatever reason that meant discounting the ‘babysitter-type minders’ and nurseries with particularly young staff. Just didn’t feel right. Having said that, I spoke to a woman last week who said the nursery near her comprises staff who are mainly mums in their 40’s – and the vibe is really good.

Our 14mo has recently started nursery for 3 days a week, now that mum has gone back to work part-time.

One thing worth checking is the Oftsed report for nearby nurseries or childminders as that may influence your decision. (we were lucky to have a nursery rated “Outstanding” quite nearby so that helped put our mind at rest).

Oh and obviously be sure to sort out childcare vouchers to offset some of the cost.

Personally I prefer nurseries. But we’ve been lucky and found a good professional nursery. I like the fact it’s structured, there’s plenty of other children to play with and both mine have definitely benefitted from the range of activities and people they’ve come into contact with. I’d prefer it if my youngest didn’t have to do five days a week though.

My biggest worry with a child minder is there is less overview of the care (Ofsted not with standing). I’m not just the potential abuse angle but also the quality and consistency of care. In a nursery you’ve got many adults supervising the kids so if someone is having an off day there’s always somebody else there to stepin if necessary.

Of course nasty things still happen in nurseries as recent stories in the press have shown.

We used a nursery for both ours from very young until they went to infants. We were lucky though in that we lived right next door to a fantastic nursery. The interaction with other children is good prep for school. It cost us an arm and a leg but we had little choice.

Now both go to childminders before and after school. Again we have fallen on our feet (bakes with them, takes them to her horses etc) so we’re lucky. Both can work – I would base decision on quality of provision nearby – make sure you get independent feedback from other parents and ask for recommendations from local school.

Good luck!

My tuppence worth…

To me handing a child over to a childminder may just end up confusing the child as to who is mum and dad and who is just looking after them. If that childminder has them full time then it is s/he that gets all the quality time during the formative years whist mum/dad are away working.

If a child is in nursery/pre-school then they are getting an entirely different kind of experience and education which is clearly definable from one on one childcare and therefore is, in my opinion, is the better option.

Mix and match! Nursery 3 days, childminder the others here. We found childminder gave too much attention/not enough discipline so balancing this with nursery worked well. They learn loads at nursery, esp social skills and not being center of attention all the time!

the potential abuse angle

really? theres more ‘potential’ (its so tiny a risk it isn’t an issue we even considered) for abuse in Nurseries imo. underpaid carers, unmotivated, just like in carehomes. and all childminders are vetted anyway.

our son goes to a childminder, and it suits us fine. the care is more personal, he interacts with children from his age up to kids of 4 or 5 on school runs, he goes to a different baby group every day. but its all about personal choice, go and check a couple out.

Our son went to a nursery 2-3 days a week from 6 months until he started school and now he’s nearly ten still remembers it as a great part of his life. Most of the staff were in their late teens and early twenties and did a fantastic job for the kids. Several of them carried on providing occasional babysitting for us after he left.

Son1 went to a childminder who had 20 years experience and eventually set up her own nursery – where Son2 went! Much larger operation. Same dedicated staff (plua a LOT more younger staff in the nursery).

In all honesty, I liked the original set up more, but it was really a nursery for six children in a lovely house. Doing it again, I’d look for the same. Getting a place with a good childminder is really a matter of luck as they are always full (as they should be!), and you will have to wait. Personal recommendation counts for a lot.

Something to consider: a childminder may be one person looking after to (up to) six children. Our nursery has a strict maximum of one carer to three kids.

So the assumption that a childminder is a better one-on-one environment may not be true.

ours (just turned 1) has been and will continue to go to our childminder one day a week (with grandparents two other days of the week), there are two other children with them and in my eyes they get alot more attention.

we have alot of friends with children some with child minders and some in a nursery. in most cases the ones with the child minders seems slighlty more… advanced, maybe thats too storng a word but they seems to talk more and not get freaked out as much.

each to their own i guess,

We went for a nursery recommended by a Social Worker who is a friend, for our 2 year old twins. In London so it costs a fortune and we are away from our family network, but we know they are getting a decent enough structure around their day. they have a key worker who they ‘love’ and they have been really supportive of the special dietry needs and through potty training etc. They do stirling work IMO, given that they are so young and paid so little. They couldn’t wait to get back after we went on holiday.

We had considered a nanny and child minder but had heard some horror stories and unless you can find some one you really trust it can be hard.

One local nanny had been leaving a baby in a chair in the lounge alone for hours at a time in the day whilst she went shopping. 😯

Our wee one goes to a nursery 2 afternoons a week and the socialising she gets there is brilliant – loads of kids and loads to do. This is more about her socialising than child care, so the child minder thing wasn’t a thought for us.

Loads of bugs to pick up as well tho.

*sniffs*

Loads of bugs to pick up as well tho.

Yep, our little one has been permanently ill since she started nursery. (Just colds, sniffles, coughs, sick etc).

Good kick start to a healthy immune system. 🙂

Good kick start to a healthy immune system.

Agreed – it is going to happen at some point (ie school) so get ’em immuned up.

ours has been full time in an excellent daycare centre from ~12mo. One unexpected benefit was the social skills boot camp that daycare is for toddlers. Honestly, now at 4yo he’s better socially adjusted than both his parents and most other people I know.

Agreed – it is going to happen at some point (ie school) so get ’em immuned up.

We were visiting a mate who is a consultant paediatrician at the weekend and we asked him about this. He said a (very rough) rule of thumb for a young child is about 15 colds/infections per year. Half that and they’d worry they weren’t being exposed to enough to challenge their immune system; double that and they’d worry about immune deficiency.

He also mentioned that between 9 and 18 months is the peak time for getting colds etc as the mother’s immune system is no longer in effect but the child’s hasn’t fully kicked in.

My son went to a Childminder from 6 months old where in our opinion he got the care and attention that they need at that age that you just dont get in a nursery.

He is now 14 months old and still with the childminder however she now takes him to play groups etc. IMO I think education stuff will be better with a childminder where there are only 2-3 kids.

We do however think Jnr FD would benefit from the mixing with more kids that you get in a nursery and perhaps the having to be more independant thing.

My son went to a Childminder from 6 months old where in our opinion he got the care and attention that they need at that age that you just dont get in a nursery.

Yeah I’ll temper my nursery enthusiasm by saying we were lucky, in that the missus was able to take over a year maternity so we didn’t have to use childcare till baby was 13 months.

We may well have felt differently about nursery if we had to send her at 6mo – especially as first time parents – that seems so young out send them out into the world! 😕

Our daughter is just starting at a childminder (at 13 months), actually two childminders who work together (mother & daughter). She gets the seeing a bunch of kids aspect of things, as there are often 4 or 5 kids around in total, and also gets exposed to kids of a different age which is nice. They also have one person who is their looker after person all the time, whereas nurseries seem to have staff turnover, plus at least our local one, they move from room to room as they get older, meaning new key person each room.

None of that is at all why we chose childminder over nursery though – the big thing for us was that at the nursery, they basically stay in one place all day. With the childminder, they get to walk the dog, walk down the hill to the shops, play on the swings, go down the woods, go to activity groups etc. The nursery don’t even take them on trips out at all until they’re out of nappies, and even then they are a bit limited by the number of different pick up, drop off times they have to work around.

The other bonus of childminder is that you can opt out of the early years learning framework rubbish, which means that your child’s carer is wasting way less time doing psuedo school focused paperwork rubbish, and more time actually looking after your kids.

The only thing I don’t really get about childminding, is how an earth people make any money doing it given how darned cheap it is. I mean £31.50 a day per child to look after two or three energetic toddlers and cook a proper meal for them (two meals for those that stay later), that is crazy.

We’ve also heard horror stories about both childminders and nurseries – eg.several people have mentioned that when they collect their kids and ask what their kids have been up to that day, nurseries are a bit abrupt or not bothered to really talk about it, whereas the childminder will tell us all about what they’ve been up to.

a learning environment that’ll start becoming a bit like school in time

Which just shows how different people are looking for different things! We were looking for someone who whilst they’d fit the obvious structure into the day, a certain level of discipline etc. stuff that kids need (I think most childminders do this just as well as a nursery), but who wouldn’t be trying to mould them into little school pupils from a ridiculously early age, when by rights they should be playing games, stroking dogs, making a mess, reading books, going to exciting places, and all the other stuff that kids get up to. For us a childminder was a way better option for that reason, but I can see it is perhaps significantly less schoolified.

To me handing a child over to a childminder may just end up confusing the child as to who is mum and dad and who is just looking after them. If that childminder has them full time then it is s/he that gets all the quality time during the formative years whist mum/dad are away working.

Unless you’re sending your kids to a rubbish nursery or childminder, you should surely expect them to form a positive attachment to whoever is looking after them during a large part of their life. That is just healthy. Choosing a nursery over a childminder in order to avoid strong attachment seems like a pretty weird choice? Unless your kids are particularly stupid, or you work particularly long hours so you never see them, they’re surely not really going to forget who’s the daddy?

Well, responding for our nursery

one person who is their looker after person all the time, whereas nurseries seem to have staff turnover

Meeting new people = learning to be sociable = good thing 🙂

they move from room to room as they get older

Ours is open-plan so the younger children can learn from the older ones.

at the nursery, they basically stay in one place all day

Ours take them to the park and for walks around the village.

The nursery don’t even take them on trips out at all until they’re out of nappies

Ours do.

ask what their kids have been up to that day, nurseries are a bit abrupt or not bothered to really talk about it

Ours are happy to chat when we pick them up and the two staff members that have looked after her fill a page on her daily diary with what activities she did, exactly what she ate, how many nappies, etc

by rights they should be playing games, stroking dogs, making a mess, reading books, going to exciting places, and all the other stuff that kids get up to.

Agreed but I think you’re underestimating the “early years learning framework rubbish” – all that good stuff is part of it.

They make plenty of mess at nursery – whereas how many childminders are happy to let 1 year olds loose with paints, pasta, glitter, glue and chalk around their living room?

Reading all this, I’ve now realised that people send their kids to nurseries/childminders to help with the child’s development

I – incorrectly – thought it was to allow the parents to earn as much as they could

Everyday’s a school day – ‘scuse the pun

I detect a hint of sarcasm uplink, but I suspect the answer is a bit of both.

Much as we’d like to be able to look after our little girl 24/7 by ourselves, that might not be the best start for her, plus the real world dictates that we need to pay the mortgage (and save for her future).

Reading all this, I’ve now realised that people send their kids to nurseries/childminders to help with the child’s development

I – incorrectly – thought it was to allow the parents to earn as much as they could

I don’t know about everyone, but whilst I was very tempted to continue being a full time parent after she was 1, I do enjoy my work a lot and find it very fulfilling. Being part time at work and a part time parent means I get a happy balance of both and stay happy. It wasn’t so much about the money, that is handy, but my wife earns quite a lot more than me anyway.

I suspect it is the same for a lot of people – it is less purely about the money, and more about staying fulfilled and happy.

Whilst there’s possibly some evidence that children do better in various ways if they are looked after by purely one person, the effects of all these things are pretty small, and it is supposedly also true (and seems obvious) that children have a much nicer time if they are looked after by happy people than sad unfulfilled people. Some people are purely fulfilled by looking after kids, a lot find they miss working, and by going back to work everyone is happier.

Joe